---
name: "filetop-bpfcc"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "bpfcc-tools"
version: "0.31.0+ds-7"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/filetop-bpfcc"
---

# filetop-bpfcc(8)

File reads and writes by filename and process. Top for files.

## NAME

filetop - File reads and writes by filename and process. Top for files.

## SYNOPSIS

**filetop \[-h\] \[-a\] \[-C\] \[-r MAXROWS\] \[-s {reads,writes,rbytes,wbytes}\] \[-p PID\] \[interval\] \[count\]**

## DESCRIPTION

This is top for files.

This traces file reads and writes, and prints a per-file summary every interval (by default, 1 second). By default the summary is sorted on the highest read throughput (Kbytes). Sorting order can be changed via -s option. By default only IO on regular files is shown. The -a option will list all file types (sockets, FIFOs, etc).

This uses in-kernel eBPF maps to store per process summaries for efficiency.

This script works by tracing the \_\_vfs\_read() and \_\_vfs\_write() functions using kernel dynamic tracing, which instruments explicit read and write calls. If files are read or written using another means (eg, via mmap()), then they will not be visible using this tool. Also, this tool will need updating to match any code changes to those vfs functions.

This should be useful for file system workload characterization when analyzing the performance of applications.

Note that tracing VFS level reads and writes can be a frequent activity, and this tool can begin to cost measurable overhead at high I/O rates.

Since this uses BPF, only the root user can use this tool.

## REQUIREMENTS

CONFIG\_BPF and bcc.

## OPTIONS

- \-a

  Include non-regular file types (sockets, FIFOs, etc).

- \-C

  Don't clear the screen.

- \-r MAXROWS

  Maximum number of rows to print. Default is 20.

- \-s {reads,writes,rbytes,wbytes}

  Sort column. Default is rbytes (read throughput).

- \-p PID

  Trace this PID only.

- interval

  Interval between updates, seconds.

- count

  Number of interval summaries.

## EXAMPLES

- Summarize block device I/O by process, 1 second screen refresh:

  \# **filetop**

- Don't clear the screen, and top 8 rows only:

  \# **filetop -Cr 8**

- 5 second summaries, 10 times only:

  \# **filetop 5 10**

## FIELDS

- loadavg:

  The contents of /proc/loadavg

- PID

  Process ID.

- COMM

  Process name.

- READS

  Count of reads during interval.

- WRITES

  Count of writes during interval.

- R\_Kb

  Total read Kbytes during interval.

- W\_Kb

  Total write Kbytes during interval.

- T

  Type of file: R == regular, S == socket, O == other (pipe, etc).

- FILE

  Filename.

## OVERHEAD

Depending on the frequency of application reads and writes, overhead can become significant, in the worst case slowing applications by over 50%. Hopefully for real world workloads the overhead is much less -- test before use. The reason for the high overhead is that VFS reads and writes can be a frequent event, and despite the eBPF overhead being very small per event, if you multiply this small overhead by a million events per second, it becomes a million times worse. Literally. You can gauge the number of reads and writes using the vfsstat(8) tool, also from bcc.

## SOURCE

This is from bcc.

-

  https://github.com/iovisor/bcc

Also look in the bcc distribution for a companion \_examples.txt file containing example usage, output, and commentary for this tool.

## OS

Linux

## STABILITY

Unstable - in development.

## AUTHOR

Brendan Gregg

## INSPIRATION

[top(1)](/top/1.md) by William LeFebvre

## SEE ALSO

vfsstat(8), vfscount(8), fileslower(8)